1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication devices, and more particularly, to systems and methods for enabling peer-to-peer communication using a wide area network (WAN) interface.
2. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency divisional multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems. The systems can conform to specifications of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as, for example, 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE is a set of enhancements to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile standard in order to improve spectral efficiency, lower costs, improve services, make use of new spectrum, and better integrate with other open standards.
Generally, wireless multiple-access communication systems may simultaneously support communication for multiple user equipment (UE). Each UE may communicate with a base station (BS) via transmissions on forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink (DL)) refers to the communication link from the BSs to UEs, and the reverse link (or uplink (UL)) refers to the communication link from UEs to the BSs. Communications between UEs and BSs may be established via single-input single-output (SISO) systems, single-input multiple-output (SIMO) systems, multiple-input single-output (MISO) systems, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. UEs can communicate with other UEs (and/or BSs with other BSs) in peer-to-peer (P2P) wireless network configurations.
In a P2P system, two UEs may communicate with each other directly without communicating with a BS in a wide area network (WAN). Current P2P systems use an air interface different from the WAN. Different air interfaces for P2P and WAN communication can create issues of interoperability when P2P communication occurs in the same spectrum as WAN communication, as the P2P devices may interfere with WAN communication and vice versa. The interference may be unpredictable if the numerology of the two systems is not aligned. Furthermore, existing devices that are capable of both WAN and P2P technologies need to implement two different air interfaces, which increases complexity and cost. As such, there is a need to address the interoperability with P2P and WAN communication.